


On Home Ground

by Keenir



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: A few Avengers:the Series references, Gen, Heimdall isn't in a mood to be subtle today, Hope is her father's daughter, It probably helps that Loki isn't going back to Earth for the next few centuries at least, Loki has wandering massage hands, Sif the Knife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-10 23:03:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8943058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: Thor and the Avengers find out about Loki and Sif  --  reactions are varied.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ConvenientAlias](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/gifts).



> Dear Recipient: This was fun to write (they both were), but tricksy like the proverbial Hobbitses. The Avengers kept trying to take over the story, no matter where I set the tale. I hope this is acceptable.   
> PS: And the extended royal family...is my trying to settle who Thor2 ended with, if Loki really did die.

"Another mission successfully completed," Loki observed as he kneaded Sif's shoulderblades. "Truly my father is keeping you busy with a great many deeds which need completion."

Sitting and enjoying the ministrations of his hands far more than his tongue, Sif said "I always return," _And soon enough, you will know the truth. It hurts to not tell you now - or before now - but I obey the throne. Normally,_ she admitted to himself.

"Oh yes, and I am eternally grateful," one hand slipping down her spine long enough to encourage looser lips and perhaps a candlelit night. "Can I know what it concerns?"

"Avengers," Sif groaned. "And a second team being established by...not a fan of your red metal friend."

"I imagine that is a considerable list of people," Loki said. "Given I don't particularly care to return to that Realm, I suspect I will never meet any of this new team."

"You may, actually," Sif said as Loki's gifted fingers reached around to... _That's nice._ "At least two of them are going to attend my instillation."

 _The well-deserved promotion of Sif to a title and repute she has long since earned. If I hadn't been so self-absorbed with my own problems during my brief stint as king of Asgard, I would have given you and the Three a raise myself._ "That will be most enjoy-" Loki was saying just as the doors to the room swung open.

Loki went perfectly still, and Sif's eyes went wide.

On the other side of the now-open door, Steve said, "Sorry, didn't know you were busy," and backed away.

"Sif?" Thor asked. "Loki?"

"How the hell are you alive?" Tony asked.

"By the grace of Her precisely," Loki said.

"Sorry," Jane said. "See, Thor, this is why we knock."

"Loki lives," Thor whispered to her.

Sif tilted her head back to meet Loki's eyes. "We may as well tell them."

"Can you, um..." Steve asked.

Sif looked down, as did Loki, which didn't help any. "How are any of your skin taboos triggered by this?" Loki asked. "Because you can see her neck?"

Tony chuckled.

"Ha ha," Steve said. "Actually, its more seeing where your hands are, under her clothes."

"Oh," Loki said. _Sif was correct - should have both of us worn woven sweaters - an excellent feel on skins._

Sif sighed. "Move that hand back along my spine, Loki, and let it rejoin its brother." And felt as Loki's hand passed back across her underarm and returned to her shoulderblades.

"Thank you," Steve said. "Now, you were saying?"

"Hela sent me back - part of a package deal," Loki said.

"Judging by how Thor's nodding, I take it this is normal?"

"More of...not without precedent. Hela gives nothing freely."

Jane was looking at Sif.

"What?" Sif asked.

"I...I just never knew. I don't think I even suspected," Jane said.

"Few did," Thor said.

"Wait a minute...You stood by and let me slap Loki," Jane said.

Sif waited for some follow-up statement, and when none was forthcoming, asked, "What's your point?"

Jane waited for Darcy to ask if Loki was just a masseuse now, or if there was something going on... and when no quip was forthcoming, Jane looked around. "Um, guys, what happened to Darcy, Sam, and Hope?"

"I'll go look for them and Wanda," Hawkeye volunteered. "C'mon Loki, Tony."

"Busy now," Tony said.

Pepper raised an eyebrow and mouthed, "Doing what?"

"We need to talk," Hawkeye said.

"The three of us?" Loki asked. "Now I'm intrigued," and, with a nod to and from Sif, slid his hands out from under her shirt, and he walked out with Hawkeye, trailed by Stark.

Once the three of them were outside, "Cards on the table," Hawkeye said. "Since we're all in the same boat, then from here on out, the three of us meet regularly, or as regularly as can be, talk our relationship highs and lows, make sure none of us are about to go off the deep end."

"You're staring," Loki said to Tony.

"Glaring, actually," Tony corrected.

" _Any_ of us," Hawkeye clarified.

"Thanks for the offer, Oprah, but -"

"Planning on comparing relationship milestones with the Capt.?"

"Touche," Tony said.

"I don't believe that's how the word works," Loki said.

"It is how I use it." To Hawkeye, "Same boat?"

"I'm married. Loki's getting married. And if you've got half the brains you say you do, you'll get married too."

Eyes narrowed, Tony said, "Fine. Temporary membership, on a trial basis."

"Glaring again," Loki said.

"I can't imagine why. But yeah, all of us."

Loki nodded. "It could be entertaining. Though it begs the question of why you are making this offer."

Tony nodded, watching Hawkeye.

"Painful as it is to say," Hawkeye told Loki, "but you're doing a good thing - you know, stuff lately."

"Can I go now?" Tony asked.

"Nope. 'Cause its not like anything he can do, you can't do better."

"Its like we're living in a musical."

"I'm not gonna lie and tell you guys that weddings aren't scary. But they're worth is because of what comes next."

"Babies?" Tony guessed. "Little agents? Sex?"

"I already have a child," Loki said.

Hawkeye massaged his own forehead. "Try this again - either of you know what me and Laura did after tying the knot?"

"Spent the weekend untying it," Tony said. "In bed."

"Nope."

"You lived as you had before marrying," Loki said.

"Yup."

"Okay, first of all, no fair using alien mind-sharing technology," Tony said.

"I used that only the once," Loki said.

"Then what about what you just said?"

"My own post-ceremony plans."

"Close enough for para-govermental work. When Laura and I found out she was pregnant," Hawkeye said, "we went out and arrested every at-large member of the Circus Of Crime. They regarded it as a betrayal, but, eh," and shrugged. "My point is, "Find something you both love to do, and keep doing it - and make sure you do it together at least half the time."

Loki nodded, as did Tony.

"Now, is there anywhere to eat around here? I'm starving, and hope you guys don't just have fermented fish."

"The Great Hall is this way," Loki said; we were all supposed to meet there soon anyway."

As the three of them headed to the hall, "Now," Tony said to Hawkeye, "when you said you took down the Carnival Of Crime, I gotta know - what happened to Princess Python?"

"You're serious?" Hawkeye asked.

"Hell yeah; in my wild years, I tried to find her a few times... You know, for an autograph."

"Uh-huh. I know I'll regret this, but you've actually met her."

"I have?"

"Yep."

"You mean."

Hawkeye nodded. _You called her an agent, and called our children little agents._

Tony guessed that, _"Romanov_ is Princess Python?"

Hawkeye buried his face in one hand and shook his head.

"Headache?" Tony asked. Then, "Wait a minute," Tony said. "Small plot point - how would we assemble for these meetings?"

"I may've been offered a consultation here," Hawkeye said.

"Really?" Tony asked. "Doing what? You enjoy reminding us that you don't have any powers."

"Bingo. See, for some reason, there aren't any archers in Asgard anymore."

Loki nodded. "Bor never replenished their numbers when he ran out of them in his second war."

"Bore?" Tony asked. "Can I say you guys need to work on your names?"

"Bor was the King after Buri, and the King before Ve and Odin."

"Whatever," Hawkeye said. "Point is, the big boss decided that there need to be archers again in Asgard."

"Yes," Tony quipped, "because there aren't enough anachronisms in this place, that they can't make room for bows and arrows."

"And also," Hawkeye told Loki, "congrats on finally getting to - whichever base it was you were just on with Sif. I know a lot of people are gonna be celebrating."

"How so?"

"Oh I'd put money on every one of us in that Tesseract mind-share, knew how much you were angsting over Sif," Hawkeye said.

* * *

"Sif, you -"

"Stop your tongue, Jane," Sif said. "I know what you are about to say: 'you can do better.'"

"What I was going to say, friend Sif, was likewise along that line," Thor said before Jane and Sif , not wishing to see his friends come to blows. Particularly not these two.

"Friend? Friend Sif? What manner of friend is Thor, who abandons his kin and supporters and friends, in favor of giggling and prancing about on Midgard?"

Steve was about to interject, when -

Jane turned red as -

Said Thor, "I had urgent matters -"

"Philip Coulson of Midgard was afraid of you learning he was not dead," Sif stated. "Loki returned from the dead; Philip never finished dying."

 _He what now?"_ Steve thought.

"I - I didn't know," Thor said.

"How would you? How could you, you never ask."

Thor hesitated before he asked her, "Dare I ask, friend Sif," how much there is for me to ask regarding?"

 _That's never ever an easy question,_ Steve knew. _I at least have the handy excuse of having literally been on ice._

"I met Philip during my mission to capture Lorelei a second time; her cleverness was equal to her bitterness which was no less than I would possess," Sif said. "Then I was sent to Asheim, where Loki was quietly living." And she smiled.

"And you are happy now?"

"I am happy once more," Sif said. "I never enjoyed politics, or watching my words. Not while you were banished, not when Odin retired, not ever."

"My father retired?" Thor asked. "But I turned down the throne; and it cannot be Loki, because the dead cannot inherit; thus... Heimdall is now the Allfather?"

"No doubt he has had nightmares of such a day," Sif said, and then, in case Thor and the others had been trying to distract her with talk of other things, she leaped back to "'You could do better'? Is that how low you think of me?" Sif asked. "Had I cared about comfort and title or rank, I would have confessed my feelings to Loki years ago. Now, he inherits naught, as you said, and I have long been as cut off as Heimdall is from my family's treasury; in taking Loki, I get him and a daughter."

 _Daughter?_ Jane and Steve thought.

"With that, I am content," Sif said.

"Then I have no objections," Thor said.

"They would not have mattered," Sif said. "But thank you."

* * *

Meanwhile, over in the training yards, "No way, that would not work," Sam said.

"It would assuredly so work," Beta Ray Bill said.

"Why wouldn't it work?" Wanda asked, sitting on the fence.

Sitting next to her, Hope just watched.

Sam said, "Because I'd essentially be firing spears out of my armpit. That's why." _I mean, wings composed of regenerating crystal sounds great in theory, but I'll let somebody else wear them._

"Sounds glorious to me," Bill said.

"How about if we install firing-wings in your suit of armor, then?"

"I can't fly."

"I think we can fix that for you," Sam said, and he looked at Wanda and Hope. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Dambusters," Hope nodded.

* * *

A minute later, after everyone else had congratulated Sif and left, Pepper was still present. "I am pleased you were able to attend," Sif said. "I had thought I would need to ask Heimdall to escort you."

"Not that I'd object to being walked in alongside the original Mr. Tall Dark And Handsome," Pepper said, "but I think things have gone pretty well so far. Muscle relaxing interlude's interuption excepted, of course."

Sif nodded. "You are well?"

"I am."

"And your Midgardian Loki?"

Pepper snorted. "I'm going to regret making that comparison, aren't I?"

"No," Sif said. "For one, your fiance reminds me more of Thor. For another, I keep confidences; I always have."

"Thank you. And congratulations on a well-deserved promotion," Pepper said.

"Thank you."

"Whatever it is," having only heard there was a promotion, "does it involve a lot of travel? Paperwork increases no matter what the job is, I've found."

"Less paperwork, in fact," Sif said. "More travel."

"Lucky you. And, the frosting on the cake, you have someone you love whom you'd like to share your life with."

"I do," Sif said. "And how is your inner frosting?"

The red tracery lines appeared on Pepper's face, and a small gout of fire rose from her hand. "I'm getting better at controlling it."

"Perhaps you could offer instruction to Loki's daughter, in the future? I am sure she would appreciate learning from someone with a power similar to her own."

"I'd be happy to. Um, can I ask if...if its not too personal..."

"Ask, please, my friend."

"Is Loki's daughter okay with you marrying her dad?" _I mean, you mentioned her before, and said there wasn't a mother - part of the deal with returned people is they have a kid. Then again, that makes sense if everyone's supposed to return in time for the battle of the universe._

"We are friends," Sif said. "And she has raised no objection to the union."

* * *

With the conferring deal done and made, Tony went off on his own in Asgard.

Having decided that, _I got time before we all have to be in the Great Hall for food and listening to the king or new king or whatever. So I'm going to give something a try,_ and thus he made a stop at the Observatory. Waving up at the Gatekeeper, "I've heard a lot about you, Heimdall," Tony Stark said.

"No," Heimdall said mildly, "you haven't," and felt his sword and observatory feeling amused as the man's metal sheath's attempting to scan Asgardian technology.

"Yeah, okay. I'll grant you that most of what Thor talks about is Jane. But what he _has_ said about you, is all good stuff."

"I have never crossed him."

"Not like some people we could name, eh?" Tony asked, silently instructing his suit to try a more roundabout tactic.

His sword detecting the tenative probes immediately, Heimdall said, "Those less knowledgeable would ask what befalls a man who is given everything and denied nothing."

 _Ah. Right. Thor wasn't speaking metaphorically. Mr. Sees Everything. Asgardian Santa._ "He grows up to be Iron Man. I get your point."

 _And yet you have not instructed your machine to stop._ "I wonder."

"Ask me your questions, bridgekeeper, I'm not afraid."

Heimdall's lips curled in a smile, and he said, "You remind me of Loki."

"Hey, there's no call for mudslinging."

"The pair of you wear your ego and self-images as your armors, and never fail to have a retort at the ready."

"Great. Well, if you're done with the pop psych -"

"Both of you have suffered," Heimdall said. "Both of you have turned on your fathers."

Jabbing his armored index finger against Heimdall's gold suit, Tony barked at him that "Stane was _not_ my dad!"

And Tony would rather have been slapped across the room or shouted back at, than to be asked the gentle-toned question of "Do you call me a liar?"

"No?" Tony said. _Crap, was Obie carrying on with my mom? Or is the big guy talking about the kind of fatherhood that doesn't need DNA? And how did I not think of that before - too raw?_

Then Tony said, "Though, unlike Loki, I've got a smart, beautiful girlfriend."

"This is true," Heimdall said.

"Thank you," Tony said, feeling victory at hand.

Heimdall wasn't done: "As my sister is Loki's wife and Thor's friend."

Off Tony's reaction, Heimdall returned to standing 'statue-like' as Thor and Loki had called him in their youth. _Soon enough, it will be time for us all to gather in the Great Hall._

* * *

When she was on her own, having changed into full battle regalia, Sif opened the doors - and found Banner standing there. "As one of Thor's friends, I infer you are here to reinforce that I can do better than Loki," Sif deduced.

"I was just going to say congrats on the promotion, and best of luck with everything else," Bruce said.

"Luck," Sif repeated, _and I know how my mother would have responded: Why would I need luck, when I can bend a situation to my will?_ "Thank you. Though that returns to before - do you and your friends see me as so frail a thing as to rely upon luck? That I cannot endure without the guidance of you?" she asked, snapping the last part, right in Bruce's face.

He blinked, his irises green. "Actually, I was going to say that Loki's...stressful."

Sif looked at him, watching the green leave as she snorted. Stepping back, "Life is stress, Banner. When it isn't, you're doing it wrong. Or you're dead."

"Can't argue with that."

"Then what was your argument?" Sif asked, curious if he was surrendering this debate so soon.

"There's the background level of stress," Bruce said. "And then there's being attacked by a nest of hornets."

"Only hornets?"

"Whether you're impressd with my comparative imagery or not, the contrast is valid."

Sif gave a nod. "Aye, it is. Consider that for me, Loki does not simply bestow stress: he also removes stress."

 _"That_ I definately understand. And if you feel he's worth what stress may come, I'm on your side."

"Your sentiments are appreciated," Sif said. "And I have a question: what does your other self think?"

The Other Guy smiled through Bruce. "If Loki hurt you, I crush him."

Sif didn't flinch. "If Loki hurts me, there won't be a Loki left for you to crush."

"Good god," the Other Guy complimented her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner announcements, the promotions, and dambusters in Asgard.

Mid-Afternoon came, and all were assembled at last in the Great Hall.  Nearly every person was seated at the dining tables, their chairs moved so they were facing the Asgardian Throne.

"A hint will not kill you," Loki and Sif agreed, speaking to Thor.

"In regarding...?" Thor asked.

"It is your cousin who will be addressing us," Sif said.

Lorelei is no longer imprisoned?" Thor asked.

"Your other cousin."

"How many do you have?" Hawkeye asked Thor.

"Two.  The others are all dead.  You have heard me tell of my being the son of Odin, that I am the grandson of Bor, and that I am the great-grandson of Buri."

Nods all around.

"Once or twice," Steve said.

Thor said, "Buri was the first King of Asgard.  Amora does not descend from Bor, but she can trace her family line back to Buri."  And then Thor made a shrug-like gesture.  "There are at least a hundred generations between Buri and Amora."

"And you call her your cousin?" Tony asked.

"What word in your language would be appropriate?"

While listening to that, Jane was also looking around..  "Where's Darcy?" she asked.

"There," Steve said, pointing to the bottom step of the royal stairs, where stood Darcy, who let out a piercing whistle.

"Quiet!" Darcy then said.  "A lot of you probably know her, but I was asked to introduce her, so okay.  Your new queen, the...sorceress supreme?  A better magician than Loki, anyway, Queen Amora."

A green puff of smoke enveloped the throne for a few seconds, and when the smoke dispersed, Amora was sitting on the throne.  "Thank you, Darcy Lewis," she said.  To all, "I would begin with praise and boons; but I feel a warning need be issued forth first.

"There are many guests here today," Amora said,"and a number of them would plead ignorance of our laws and ways in defense of sins they may be tempted to commit. Be warned I will not be party to murders and assassinations of anyone here. As did Odin and Ve and Bor before me, I abide by the dictate that a return from true full death - verified by Hela Herself - is a pardon of all crimes and offenses committed against Asgard and all her dependencies; abuse of that pardon will be fatal forever. All returned are expected to maintain themselves in retirement and full readiness for Ragnarok."

Loki nodded. _That was my plan even before you said that._

Tony thought to himself, _I know the media enough to know that that's so not gonna go over well back home without serious couching and re-phrasing. If that._

"Foremost among those returned," Amora continued, "is a prince no longer, divorced from his kin. I present to you the retired Loki." Under her breath, Amora said, "At the close of this event, Loki, I will be assigning you to finish handling reparations and weyrgilt to Jotunheim."

 _'Finish'?_ Loki thought.

And in a voice raised to carry through the room, Amora announced, "I, Amora, High Queen of Asgard, do present my choice for the duty of Serene advisor..." In that under the breath voice, Amora then said, "And before you ask, Loki, No."

"No?" Loki asked.

"You genuinely were dead. She was not." And, back in that carrying voice, "I present to you Frigga Vanseidrmaster Bodi-All, Councilor To The Throne."

The Great Hall erupted in applause.

Thor left his seat and approached the royal steps. When he reached there, "It pleases me that you are not dead, Mother," Thor said, relieved.

"But why the ruse?" Frigga knew.

"...Yes."

"I knew how mine husband Odin would wage war with the Dark Elves - the same way as his father and sister waged war: with an army, and with great thoroughness. I knew you would have no such asset, and thus would be forced to turn to one of three people for navigation: one of your brothers or your cousin."

 _Loki, Heimdall, and Lorelei. My only living cousins are her and Amora, very distant relations that they are, separated as we are by hundreds of generations_.  "But I -"

Frigga nodded. "Your temper; I counted on it. Swift victory required that it be sparked. And you had already demonstrated that a hostage or an imprisonment would not be sufficient."

Thor looked at her.

Frigga waited.

The room and all within held their breath.

Thor gave his mother a bear hug. "A stunning plan of quiet power. Amora could not have chosen a wiser, more skilled tactician."

"Thank you, my son," Frigga said.

Setting his mother down, Thor returned to his seat as Amora said, "There are those who are adept at the arts martial and diplomatic, who have trained many and been trained by the finest. Thus do I present to you the noble-minded and skilled Sif Askin Saxawyn to be my Agent of Asgard."

* * *

"My congratulations to you both!" Frigga said, clapping one hand on Sif's outer shoulder and one hand on Loki's. "I was beginning to despair either of you would find someone."

"Thank you, Allm- Frigga," Sif said.

"Oh do mind your tone, Sif -- that was only after several centuries of wondering if and when the two of you would realize your feelings were not unilateral."

"And you said nothing."

"I have personal bitter experience of how being instructed to acknowledge feelings, can spoil what is and could be," Frigga said.

* * *

When the new posts were all announced, and Amora bid them all well and please return to the feast before them, and as Sif was returning to sit with her friends, she was approached by an old buddy.

"Many congratulations, Sif!" Beta Ray Bill boomed, slapping her back. "I offer you wishes of prosperity always being found."

"I'll take that," Sif told him with a grin as big as his. "And we should talk about -"

Also returning to her seat was "Sif!" Jane Foster said, narrowly avoiding bumping into the other woman. "I'm sorry, I -"

"Greetings," Bill said.

"Um, hi, I'm Jane, and... you are...?"

"Beta Ray Bill."

"Oh."

"She means 'you're an alien,'" Darcy said, standing by Jane. And before she could add 'and not like Thor', Bill said -

"I am not."

Darcy snorted.

"I am a Korbonite," Bill said.

"Oh. Great. Well can you help us convince Sif here to ditch Loki, oh nice Korbonite?" Darcy asked.

"'Ditch' to abandon, or 'ditch' to carve furrows in?"

"Both wouldn't be a bad idea."

Bill crouched down to be at eye level with Darcy, those solid white eyes gazed into hers.

"Do you blink?" Darcy asked. "'Cause a staring contest isn't fair if you don't."

"Loki was my friend before she was," he stated. "Together, we three have had glorious adventures and faced terrible problems."

"Like your best buddy being evil?"

"Evil?" Bill asked.

"Uh-huh," Darcy said.

"You are distressed Loki failed to conquer your planet?"

"Wha?"

"No," Sif said. "I believe she is still angry because our Loki held the Throne before her and Jane's Thor did."

 _My Thor?_ "No! No, that's not why," Darcy said. "Hell, Sif, you can do better than him!"

"True."

"And furth- Wait, you're agreeing with me?"

"Aye," Sif said. "I chose Loki just as surely and definitively as Jane chose Thor."

"Only with less injury," Jane said. _Or that'd be my guess. After all, Asgard doesn't have cars._

"Only as you have not known Thor long enough to injure him much," Sif smiled.

Having been passing by en route to another friend, Pepper stopped and said, "We can't change what's happened in the past to the ones we love. We may not always manage to change them, however much we try. But we're with them because we want to be with them."  _That they turn to putty in our hands, that's a bonus._

"Aye," and "Precisely," said Loki and Sif.

"We may not forgive you," Pepper added, "but that's not the point. Not today."

Loki dipped his head in recognition. "Stark does not deserve you any more than I deserve Sif," he said.

 _As olive branches go, that's a very nice one._ "True," Pepper and Sif agreed.

* * *

When they stopped by the table with their comrades-in-arms, Loki and Sif found Fandral and Hogun exchanging money.

Having a hunch as to the cause of it, "Two of our oldest friends," Loki said, "gambling over if Sif and I would turn to one another?"

"Not if," Hogun said.

"When?"

"Nor when," Fandral said.  "Over which one of you would be the first to admit to your feelings."

"And what about you, good Volstagg?" Sif asked.  "I notice you are not gathering winnings."

And that," Volstagg said, "is because I had bet that the two of you would be wed by the command of a throne exhausted with watching the two of you dance around not saying anything."

Fandral nodded.

* * *

After the meal, everyone went outside, where, in the sky, Sam was in the air, wings extended, holding Bill by one hand, while Hope held the other hand, and both of them kept alot not just by Sam and Hope, but by red wisps on all three of them and their equipment.  They had been practicing for much of the day, and were ready to display this for everyone.

On the ground, Wanda kept focusing on keeping them in the air as they built up speed, readying to let go of Bill.

"Fine form," Loki said.  "Not an amateur undertaking."

Wanda startled, but she didn't stop helping Bill and Hope and Sam.  "You're Loki?"

"I am.  A piece of advice?"

"Magic?" she asked.

"That has always been my talent," Loki said.  "I am honest enough to know that Frigga, Odin, and Amora have always been more powerful than me.  But with what you have here, I believe I can offer something."

"Okay," Wanda accepted.

"You can either pull the engines up, increase the amount of energy they rocket out, or you can lighten the person or object being lifted."

"Third one sounds easy enough."

"The trick is to not hollow out the person, or turn them into a feather," Loki said.

Wanda raised an eyebrow.

"I jest."

"Loki!" Bill squawked, "Don't let her majesty turn me into a crow again!"

"Mostly," Loki said, amending his statement.

Hope and Sam let go, and Bill tucked the rest of himself into a ball as he flew forward like a living cannonball into a dam-like wall which had been constructed for the purpose today.

"Success!" Sam announced, though it was obvious to anyone watching that the Korbonite had demolished the dam even sans his hammer.  _It worked just like the old WW2 dam bombs, only not explosive,_ Sam mused, proud of the teamwork they'd managed, even with new members taking part.

"Excellent," Hope said to Sam.  _I should probably offer to improve the engines on his wings - a Pym subsidiary makes them, and even if he's working with a Stark, I can do that for Sam._   Then she spotten Loki, and dove in to land near him.

"Can I have a word?" Hope asked him.

"By all means," Loki said.

"I don't know what you're doing," she said.  "Some would say you're playing us, others would say you're moving on with your life.  I don't know, and as yet I don't care."  _I don't know you except by repute._   "What I understand is that you got people moving, which is great; here in Asgard, on Earth, etc."

Loki frowned.  _I understand how she knows of what I did on Midgard and what it spurred... but how does she know the other things?_

"I know history," Hope said. "The Space Race, arms races, dynastic squabbles, e.t.c.  Bad things that brought about good benefits.  So you get credit for being the grain around which the Avengers formed. You don't get credit for dropping a city, stopping a robot army, or combatting conspiracies."

"Acceptible," Loki said.  "Even without the events on your world, I have deeds aplenty to my name."

"And the whole being dead business," Hope asked, "does that wipe the slate clean, deeds-wise?"

"I can no longer use them as currency, but my reputation remains," Loki said.  "Now, if you will excuse me, I have an appointment to keep," half expecting her to make a therapist joke, like some of her Midgardian fellows.

She waved him off.  "Oh, and one more thing," Hope said as she too moved to leave. "Next time you're going to throw Tony Stark out a window..."

"Yes?" Loki asked.

"Aim better."

* * *

Loki was reading alone in a room, the fireplace casting shadows behind him, when a pair of arms slid around him.  _If I were under attack, I'd be choked before I could process that those arms are there,_ he knew: it'd happened once.

"I think that went well," Sif whispered into Loki's ear.

In response, one-handedly bookmarked his book and set it down.   He rubbed the side of his head against the side of hers, and rested one hand on her forearm.  "Mm."

"I hate to tell you this, but they don't all hate you."

"The promise of distance," Loki muttered.  "I like your friends far more."

"I like my friends too," Sif said.  "I suspect I will be sent off in a few days on a mission."

"I know you will return," Loki said.  "And if you do not, that is your choice."

Lowering the sunglasses Pepper had given her, Sif leaned in and said flatly, "I'll be back."

"I will wait."

"And speaking of," Sif asked, coming around to sit on his lap, easily removing her sunglasses and setting them atop Loki's book, "what distance did you have in mind?"

"I am a moon in orbit around your gloriousness.  I leave the distance at your choice."

A cunning smile rested on Sif's face.  "Then its best we work on your landings, little moon of mine."


End file.
